Review of our Bermuda cruise experience on RCC's Grandeur of the Seas July 8-13, 2007

Departure - What a difference the Baltimore port departure makes! 90 minutes after leaving our home in York, PA we were on the ship ordering the drink of the day. No airports, no full day of travel, just a relaxing quick drive. The port was easy to find and the departure procedure was a breeze. Lots of help in the parking lot which is right next to the ship... just drive up next to the baggage area and someone removes your bags from your car, then park, grab your carry-on, and head to the check in desk. Check in went fast and before we knew it, we were on board. I wish more ships sailed from Baltimore and more destinations were available.

The Ship & Staterooms - first impressions were a bit off. Baltimore's gangway leads you onto a dark, unimpressive lower deck of the ship rather than into the impressive 5-story atrium like some other ports. No welcoming drinks either like we experienced on previous RCCL cruises. We knew we wanted to purchase a soda pass and the wine program but no sign-up tables were evident and it took until later in the day to find them (unfortunately RCCL's soda pass program no longer includes juices which we always encouraged as a healthy alternative for our son). With nothing else to do, we headed straight to our stateroom. The stateroom was the nicest we have seen in the 5 cruises we have taken. With 3 family members, we booked a Junior Suite which comes with a balcony, queen size bed, and pull out queen sleeper sofa. There was a nice hardwood floor in the entrance foyer and more closet, drawer and storage space than we'd ever seen on a ship. This stateroom also includes a mini-fridge and full bathtub instead of just a shower stall. The bathroom was the largest we've experienced. It was actually possible to turn around in there. The only negative here is that Royal Caribbean has stopped automatically providing toiletries and shower caps. Instead, they have mounted a shampoo dispenser on the shower wall. On pervious cruises they automatically provided hand lotion, lip balm, shower caps, and other amenities. There were 25 in our cruising group and they occupied every stateroom class from the junior suite down. Every member of our party commented on how nice and how much larger (relatively speaking) the staterooms were. Our cabin steward appeared almost immediately to introduce himself and see if we needed anything. During the course of the cruise he was very attentive and kept the stateroom spotless. Dining - this was the most disappointing part of our cruise. The food on the Grandeur of the Seas was not up to the same standard we've experienced on other RCCL ships. We ate breakfasts and lunches in the Windjammer cafe which is the open seating buffet on most RCCL ships. We ate dinner each night in the main dining room. The buffet choices were plentiful and we were happy to find unlimited amounts of delicious smoked salmon every morning, but the quality of most items was just a little off. Dinners were possibly more disappointing. Our party of 25 was to be split into 2 ten-top tables and 1 six-top, all adjoining. Instead, we were split into 1 ten-top, 2 six-tops and 1 four-top. Our ten top had nine members of our group and one poor woman who was assigned to dine with us. Fortunately she was a good sport and we made her an honorary member of our group. Not only were we split among 4 tables, but the tables weren't close enough to each other to just lean over and talk with the rest of the group. We had to keep getting up and wandering around, standing while conversing. Our table was assigned a waiter from Mexico named Saul. He was accommodating when it came to special requests like the night our 13 year old son ordered 4 appetizers and no main course for dinner and Saul aimed to please, but had to keep apologizing for mistakes in our orders. Our assistant waiter was terrible and never spoke above a whisper. Typically on cruises once they learn who drinks what, they automatically deposit your chosen beverage in front of you without being asked. He tried to do this, but managed to place the wrong choices in front of us almost every night, leaving us to pass the drinks around and straighten things out. We learned that if we did not grab as many rolls as we would like for dinner on the first pass, we would never see the roll basket again. The waiter's recommendations are usually spot on, but the first night's recommended prime rib was a huge disappointment to all at our table who tried it. The nightly main course choices seemed more limited too and although I'm not a picky eater at all, some evenings there weren't any appealing choices on the menu. The disappointing assistant waiter led to some tipping difficulty… we like the convenience of automatically placing the gratuities on our SeaPass account, but that's an all-or-nothing procedure and so we could not reduce the amount given to the assistant waiter, nor could we eliminate a tip for the head waiter who did nothing more for us than say "Hello" each evening. Entertainment/Recreation - The shows put on by the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers were among the best we've seen on a cruise ship. The shows by other acts - magicians, comedians, and strangely enough even an Olympic gymnast, were just OK and sometimes bordered on odd. The casino is very nicely sized in comparison with the RCCL Sovereign class and was a popular attraction. Bingo was, as usual, expensive at $35 per game but one member of our party did win a small jackpot of $55 and a woman from PA took home a big $5,700 jackpot on the last day. Karaoke has always been one of our favorite activities to watch and the Grandeur has the most talented hostess, a persona by the name of "Miss Flashy". She was hilarious! There were two problems with karaoke; the first is that karaoke was very popular and the lounge was too small to hold the crowd that gathered each evening, the second was the fact that they judge the singers and build to an American Idol like finish for the final night on board. This led to some very professional singers rather than the usual fun intoxicated amateur warblers we all hope to see and laugh at. Several members of our party tried the rock climbing wall, but on the Grandeur the wall is positioned in a way that makes watching the climbers almost impossible. Several members of our group used the spa and liked it, but be careful because the spa had a habit of signing cruisers up for appointments that conflicted with dinner and even the mandatory pre departure muster drill... and if you don't show or cancel they will charge you half the price as a penalty. A big hit among our group was a small class in dollar bill origami taught by hilarious crew member "Urkey from Turkey" (just picture Borat teaching an origami class). Our son finally tried the teen program on the last night and wished he had participated throughout the entire cruise. The midnight buffet in the main dining room was a don't miss... although we weren't hungry, the ice sculptures and food art were amazing. Read more